A Weekly Conversation with the Voice

December 2014

12/31/2014

If I wanted to live in the world more energetically, no longer pretending that the world is only physical – what would I do?

First and foremost practice healing touch. You would learn to heal yourself through touch and to assist in the healing of others. Practicing healing touch is a big opener – lots of doors will appear for opportunity, as if by magic! There is not an intellectual argument for this. Healing touch is simply a wonderful place to start, filled with possibilities. All the energetic ”s-factors” are activated and come into play – stillness, sensing, sacredness, service, and symmetry. In the practice of healing touch your hands will be activated and begin to develop wisdom. When you meet someone who has wisdom in her hands it is a special experience.

Healing touch aids and nourishes the energetic body to become healthy just as walking for exercise aids the physical body for both the giver and receiver. It is just that fundamental! You learn to see in another manner other than using your eyes. You allow energy to flow through you to another. You become attuned — wow what a wonderful breakthrough, not just awake and aware but attuned. Once attuned you can never go back to falling asleep. These words are inadequate to describe all the benefits of healing touch. The service of healing touch is transformative and nourishing, you learn about offering and not being attached to expectations. You will move with a different rhythm – things unfold and expand. Pushing diminishes and you not longer react out of habit or tighten and knot up.

Second, practice listening to whispers. This should not come as a surprise; listening is the foundation for all possibilities. However in answer to your question, if you wish to experience the world energetically pay attention. There are always whispers carried on the winds. The whispers are part of the rhythm of life. A resource available to everyone! Suggested by the whispers are adjustments, guidance, insights, intuition, new possibilities – all for your health and well-being. They suggest to you what is next for you to learn and flourish. The whispers are subtle; there is no shouting, expectations or demands. Understand also that there is more than one whisper for each person. Nature is generous. Whispers are offered and shaped in forms that we find familiar or prefer – all aspects of nature, angels, animals, magical animals, spirit guides, teachers, family members and ancestors, guides from wisdom traditions, ancient and modern texts — to name a few.

“If I wanted to live in the world more energetically what would I do?” You would practice other forms of listening other than listening to words. Rather practice listening to nature, be in conversation with rocks and in particular trees! Listen for the emergent. What are you aware of just on the edge or fringe? Everyone can tune into what is the next step to grow, nourish or advance a situation or relationship.

Third, I would remind you to participate in Sacred Space. Sacred spaces are diminishing across the planet. Slavery increases every year across the planet. If we were to pick two polar energy fields on one side it would be sacred space and on the other side it would be slavery.

There is no simple definition of a sacred space. It is easier to describe the qualities present in a sacred space. A sacred space naturally invites stillness, listening, and pondering. In a sacred space there is an experience of wholeness. Within sacred spaces people and communities are touched and they touch one another. There is also a softening, where there was once hardness, allowing the emergent to shine. Sacred spaces are often centers of incubation.

I have offered before, build your communities around your schools. The fastest diminishing of sacred space has occurred around your schools and your children. Make every school a sacred place, for it is the future of every community. Com-munities need sacred spaces for they provide space for listening. Without spaces of listening communities lose fertile ground for growth.

A choice remains whether to focus on the physical objective world or allow yourself to actively enter into the energetic world. Healing Touch, Listening to Whispers, and Sacred Space will allow you to enter into the energetic world.

12/25/2014

If someone says a piece of wisdom changed her life, this means she decided something was wise and applied it in her life repeatedly, creating a change.

Some people who have been named wise will tell you that wisdom is just a side effect. Most likely they practiced some form of Appreciation, Respect, in-Learning, Holding the Whole and Service in their relationships. These states of being place them on a pathway to discover wisdom.

Gather wisdom as you would a harvest of fruit. Do not hold onto it long. Share it with others who are seeking nourishment. Never force a piece of fruit on someone.

Also remember that the other person gets to decide if the fruit is tasty and flavorful.

If you declare yourself wise, most likely you are attached to your wisdom.

The signs of attachment to your wisdom are: Believing it to be a universal truth. Expecting people to apply and use the wisdom; Wanting appreciation and recognition for the wisdom you share; Trying to silence other voices who disagree with your wisdom; Declaring yourself wise, complete and stopping your learning;

On the path that wisdom frequents a question is always more valuable than an answer.

A question sheds a warm, wide, rich light by which to navigate and walk. An answer directs focus, narrow, beam of light on a small pathway, missing much that is happening on the sides

One of the greatest blocks to wisdom is knowledge held too tightly.

Be cautious of any wisdom tradition that is not evolving and growing. The nature of wisdom is to grow.

You can never know where you will find a gem of wisdom. A person’s appearance gives no clue about his or her wisdom. Only listening can reveal the presence of wisdom.

Wisdom is the practice of helping people expand and reveal themselves, not imitation.

Wisdom suggests — do not try to convince someone who feels alone that they are not alone. When someone feels alone treat this feeling with deep respect, for they have lost connection.

The change that could occur if you release the voices of the grandmothers around the planet cannot be calculated. Deep, resting within your communities are the grandmothers. They are a natural source of wisdom.

Within a circle you will find yourself home. Listening is discovered, wisdom is revealed and collective intention may emerge. Circles are humankind’s heritage and future.

There is much wisdom to be discovered on the path of nonviolence. Even with a few examples of great leaders, those in charge of the world today do not embrace nonviolence. This form of wisdom eludes them, and they need help from you.

Your connection with children is a source of both great energy and wisdom. When you and your leaders bring children forward into your decision-making processes, hearing their voices directly and/or listening to those who speak for the children, you are being wise. The world is in need of more wisdom.

Understanding what is good for another requires great wisdom and understanding about the other person. When good is held tightly with a strong sense of rightness and wrongness, this is not wisdom.

If someone comes to you with a problem, listen and then ask, “How might I be helpful to you?” Realize that wisdom might already be present with them. In helping someone, it is more important to reveal his or her wisdom than to reveal your own.

An ancient master was asked by a student. “What is the source of your wisdom?” The ancient master replied: “You cannot find wisdom it finds you. The search for knowledge is not a search for answers or information. It is a search for questions. There is nothing more precious than a good question. A good question can be your companion for a lifetime. You will never feel lonely. Good questions are very tricky. There is hidden underneath the question, another dozen questions that sneak up on you when you are least expecting it. Before you realize it you are deeply immersed in curiosity. This of course is the key - curiosity. Curiosity sets you on a path that wisdom frequents.“

12/09/2014

Everyone should celebrate when a boy or girl (man or woman) can stand in the middle of “service of the moment.” In answer to the question “Who are you really?” I am someone who can sense what it means to be of service in any given moment to my family, friends, community and living space. Service of the moment represents a transition into being fully human – it is a rite of passage.

When a baby learns to walk she is no longer dependent on crawling or someone carrying her. This does not mean she is never wobbly or is in perfect balance all the time. Yet, she has mastered walking. This is how it is with service of the moment. This capacity is not a matter of accuracy or duration. This is not a competition or a perfection.

The foundation for standing in the middle of “service of the moment” begins with children being genuinely helpful to other children. This far exceeds being friendly and smiling. The connection is strong between children; they more easily see another child – unless they have been taught to look elsewhere.

When a child is living in a natural moment there is perfect color, perfect sound, perfect movement — a perfect moment of dance, it does not get any better than this. When children are in rythym with one another it is a sacred moment.

Consider how you design the gathering place and schooling of your children. Ask the question, “Is the goal of this school for the children to help one another?” How far does this question travel in the school?

Will older children help younger children? Do teachers create intentional spaces for this?

Will student athletes help one another, providing support, feedback, coaching?

Is it an honor for one child to help another child — with studies, with friends, to be included, to harmonize?

In the light of a bully or a disruption will children be active and help one another?

Do the children listen to one another?

Will they explore differences with passion and deep respect?

Do the children help each find their voices? Create open spaces to support expression of self?

Beyond an intention, those who are in-charge and who intend a school to be a space where children who help other children — those in-charge actively engage in creation through the repeated movements of invitation, create spaces, build connections and erase lines.

So learn to ask? What is the nature of the invitation, how inviting, interesting and compelling to the children? Are all children invited at once, with only one form of invitation? Are children recognized that need to be invited repeatedly with genuineness and caring?

What is beyond intention and invitation? It is not enough to “speak the invitation or create advertisements”. The school its teachers and those in charge must create a frequency of spaces – many spaces that support, encourage and allow children to help one another.

Beyond just intending, inviting, and creating spaces – the teachers will build connections. We call this weaving – without weaving only a few possibilities will emerge. Often people create beautiful spaces, have a good invitation and very few show up. Weaving is the key – to actively build connections among people revealing the liens of connection that naturally exists.

You could ask these same questions about your communities or your places of work for men and women? Consider how you design your places of work? Ask the question “Is the goal of this work place for people to help one another?

Such a strange thing to design your communities based on the principles of “better-than” and “competition for resources.” There is no satisfaction in losing or being named less-than;” especially when everyone can participate in helping and experience deep satisfaction . Why would you gather your children in the form called schools for them to be counted, evaluated, rank ordered, selected and rewarded as best, in a series of movements that are only satisfying to a few children?

Service of the moment begins with sensing into the question “what is my service to provide with this person or these people in this situation?” The form is not specified in advance. Service is natural and deeply satisfying. It is one of the five great nourishments of the soul.

Sitting in a circle of people, say in a meeting, consider this approach — rather then preparing your comments, defending your position; ask the questions – “What service can I provide to this circle? What is needed here? How can I deepen or enrich the conversation? Whose voice wants to come forward? How can I help?”

Consider this carefully. Be suspicious of Competition; for it is the great disruptor to offering service and developing your ability to be in “service of the moment.” Service is challenging if you are in-competition. This could mean competition for resources, awards, praise, power, control, to prove better-than. Often competition is an important part of the spirit of a school of children and interferes with the spirit of service among and between the children.

Here are three simple points about service. 1) Service is natural and deeply satisfying-nourishing. 2) the foundation for service of the moment is the golden triangle of awareness noticing-listening-sensing. 3) helping, offering help without attachment leads you to service – All of this begins as a child! With the simple movement of children helping other children.

12/02/2014

Consider a practice of approaching your experiences with this simple mantra or reflection – “there is always more.” This simple phrase consistently applied can transform judgment into curiosity and set a path to practice of any of the capacities of being human.

The Six Principles of Moreness

There is always more to the situation than I understand.

There is always more that I can learn.

There is always more connection to be experienced.

There is always more to this person than I see.

There are always more possibilities present in the field to be revealed

When you offer your thoughts, feelings, blessings, gifts without attachment more will present itself.

Overall moreness is grounded in the movement of Service. This is very different than moreness expresses when someone greets the world in‐Wanting. So we are not talking about greed, avarice, acquiring, controlling, collecting, or owning. Now more is also not the “more of be better-than, work harder, beat the competition, or no pain—no gain

More in-Learning, more offering, more blessing, more generosity, more inviting women’s voice forward; more steps forward; more steps forward, a continuous flow of steps toward growth — this is the nature of moreness.

The first doorway into moreness says –There is always more to the situation than I understand. In any moment when you are standing in the middle of judgment, when you “know” the “right and only answer;” there is more to be understand. If you stand in even the minor versions of sexism, racism, classism, ageism there is always more to be understood. If you see an action of a community and judge the community harshly or blame a side or take a side ­­– remember there is always more to situation. When someone comes to you deep in judgment wisdom says “there is always more to the situation. Remember: Any experience that is beyond words requires a story to be created about the experience. This story is not the experience.

Now it has come to pass that stories become the fact and in many wisdom traditions the stories become law. A law says there is no more, stop here.

The second doorway from which to explore “moreness ” is there is always more to understand, so be in-Learning.

Ask yourself the question: “How am I greeting the world?” Moreness grows from greeting the world in-Learning.[1] Energetically in-learning means to actively greet the world with openness of mind, heart and spirit in all that you do.

Ask yourself the question “What am I practicing?” Many specific ideas and capacities are offered across the conversations of Ideas to Ponder and Practice. Consider each of these doorways leading to spaces where there are more doorways all interconnected. Each increases your capacity for Service by being more human more of who you fully are.

A third doorway into moreness says — There is always more connection to be experienced. Remember the question what is my next step (towards growth) in this relationship? What will increase my connection? Consider this idea – wherever you are in your practices more is possible.

A fourth doorway into moreness says — There is always more to another person. People are not often themselves.[2] They are filled with the voices of others during childhood and do not answer or respond to situations with their own voice. In addition, many have not discovered their gifts so we do not see full sharing. Still others are wounded and do not reveal themselves out of protection or fear. Finally the invitation for someone to share, reveal themselves is poor in many relationships and communities. There is also more to someone else because people often view one another through the windows of judgment and so they see the judgment and the stories made up – not the real person. If you can remember this then you will offer more generosity to people and you invitation to speak will grow.

A fifth doorway into the field of moreness says —There are always more possibilities present in the field to be revealed. People are ever so happy when they experience possibilities. The more a person, relationship or community experiences possibilities the more they flourish and thrive!

Now allow yourself to consider — All possibilities are present simultaneously creating a huge field available to you. Existing beyond space and time – the possibilities of when you were seven years old and the possibilities when you are seventy years old all exist. No one creates a possibility. Everything that could possible happen exists as a possibility. Your relationship with the field of possibilities often determines your satisfaction.

A sixth doorway into the field of moreness says —When you offer your thoughts, feelings, blessings, gifts without attachment more will present itself.

For example help (in service) is always offered, never pushed. If you find yourself pushing then you are not helping, you are doing something else. Pushing can be selling, telling, convincing, persuading or expecting. Offering is just that, an offer for consideration. Now immediately some situations will come to mind where this may seem too weak. Offering is like the wind existing in many forms, yet it is still the wind – present then leaving. Offering can come with passion, tenderness, and firmness, with a light touch or heavy touch and then it leaves. The free will of the person is always respected by offering.

Closing:

Everything said here is an offering – do not assume, even a hint of urging or nudging you to “do more.” Nor is it being said you are doing too little.

[1] The Nature and Practice of in-Learning - http://blog.17messages.com/2013/01/the-nature-and-practice-of-in-learning.html

[2] Who are You Really? - http://blog.17messages.com/2012/05/who-are-you-really.html